Thursday 30 August 2012 06.11 EDT
First published on Thursday 30 August 2012 06.11 EDT

Michael Carrick is sure that Manchester United will not disappoint again in this season's Champions League after they failed to progress beyond Christmas in last year's campaign.

The draw for the group stage happens on Thursday afternoon in Monaco, when the clubs United could draw include the big-spending Paris St-Germain, the six-times European champions Juventus, and the German champions Borussia Dortmund.

"The league is the priority, but when the Champions League comes round, of course, you put everything into it," Carrick told ManUtd.com. "We won't be taking our eye off the ball at all, especially after what happened last season.

"We want to be in the latter stages and fighting for the trophy. But we know the work has to be done now and hopefully we've learnt from last season and can have a much better campaign this time. The players always look forward to the draw and we're especially looking forward to it this time after what happened last season. We let ourselves down as a squad.

"Our home form was very disappointing [last season] but our away form was good. It's about getting the balance. You want both to be terrific. You need your home form to be terrific to give you the base to progress. Over the years, it's been good and we'll be looking to put that right this time because we don't want what happened last year to happen again."

There was good news at last for Sir Alex Ferguson regarding his central defensive options. The manager was at Moss Lane to see Jonny Evans make a successful return to action on Wednesday evening, playing a full 90 minutes for United's under-21 team against Tottenham Hotspur.

Evans is now ready to start at Southampton on Sunday. He told MUTV: "People always say it's important to get a good pre-season under your belt. If you miss it, it can affect your season, so I've just been trying as hard as I can, doing all the fitness work I can. It's my first game but I've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. I think that's why it was important for me to get these games. Hopefully I'll be in contention for Sunday.

"I felt pretty good. I've had a few setbacks over pre-season where it's not gone as planned. Hopefully now everything's behind me and I can kick on with the season."

The Dutchman Alexander Buttner, United's new left-back, also impressed, making a clearance off the line in the 2-1 win over Spurs. Evans said: "He's been training all week with us and I've been very impressed. He seems very confident on the ball, good in the tackle. He probably didn't get as much of the ball as he would have liked. But he defended really well, which is important, and I'm sure he can be happy with himself."

Darren Fletcher also completed the 90 minutes as he continues his comeback from a chronic bowel condition.